Sunder
by Tsume Yuki
Summary: Sometimes, being reborn throws a spanner in the works of a well known story. And even separated, conjoined twins pose a big question as to the line of succession. Hyūga SI.


**Sunder**

 **Prologue**

 **.**

27.12.1000

Hyūga Hiashi stares.

It is not a common sight, nor is it common to catch the head of the Hyūga clan with such a look of complete and utter befuddlement upon his face. In the wake of the Kyūbi attack, the devastation it wrought and the death of the much beloved Fourth Hokage, Hiashi had been under the impression that nothing else would ever be capable of surprising him now. Not to the extent that is perfected mask of apathy would end up cracking anyway.

Yet, here they are.

Hizashi watches his twin brother, carefully holding his tongue in the face of this unprecedented incident. A particularly loud sniffle from the crook of his arm has Hizashi looking upon the newborn that resides there, tiny little nose scrunched up with watery little tears gathering in the corner of Hyūga white eyes.

"Twins," his elder brother whispers once again, running one hand across his unmarked forehead, staring down at the second little baby that now resides in a traditional styled cot, placed strategically beside his sister-in-law's bedside. She still remains unconscious, recovering from the stress of a forced caesarean birth.

"You were aware they were twins," Hizashi cautiously says, gentle in how he carefully places the baby girl beside her sister. The cream blanket is swiftly tucked around her form, the only clothing she wears a cloth diaper. After all, they need access to the baby's back, should an infection flare up.

"Yes, but I was not expecting them to be joined together. Not like that."

Hizashi nods, and he wonders how his elder brother feels.

It is true he personally feels particularly bitter about how the state of affairs rests, how he had missed out upon being clan head by mere minutes. In the very least though, it had been a clear decision over who would inherit leadership.

Given that Hiashi's heirs had been pulled from their mother's womb at the exact same time due to their conjoined state, future leadership of the Hyūga Clan no longer looks so clear. Even now that they have been skilfully separated by the Head Medic of the village, they clan still do not have answers. There is not first born or second born with Hiashi's daughters.

And now his elder brother has a very difficult decision to make, one that could see to it that one daughter would resent him from the rest of her life. The appointment of this heir is even more down to chance of the draw than Hiashi's own ascension to the title.

This is the first time that twins will actually pose a problem in the Hyūga Clan. What if one turns out to be more skilled than the other? What if Hiashi picks the wrong one? It is a huge dilemma. The elders will be along soon, demanding to meet the new heir, but there isn't one. Just, two daughters. Two twins born at the exact same time.

"Have you got names for them?" Hizashi asks, because he cannot continue to address them as the twins, as that twin or this twin. It's too clinical, too objective.

"This one shall be Hinata," his brother says, gesturing to the babe that sleeps soundly, the scar upon her back edging to the left of her spine where she was once joined to her sister. The other baby stares up with teary white eyes, tiny little lips flapping about uselessly. They both look rather like Neji once did, Hizashi's little boy who is now seventeen months old. Nearly a year and a half. He wonders how these little girl's will develop as they age, wonders how they will differ from his own son.

"And Hinata's sister?"

"Hinatsu."

Place in the sun and summer day? Not quite appropriate names, given they have been born in the dead of winter, but Hizashi is sure they will grow into the names.

They lay there so peacefully, one sleeping and one only just starting to doze. Neither will know that in a few short hours there will be a fierce debate over their futures, over whom to crown as the heir and who to damn to the branch family.

As if summoned by the very thought, one of the elders appears in the open doorway, hands folded within his sleeves.

"Hiashi, we must confer."

His elder brother's gaze flickers to his and Hizashi nods his head to the silent question. Of course he shall watch over his nieces, shall defend them with his life if necessary. Though in the centre of the Hyūga compound, it shall not come to that.

.

Three hours pass before his brother returns with a tense silence around his form that quickly expands to cover the whole room. Hizashi does not wish to be the one to start this conversation, to ask for the verdict that has been decided upon.

Thankfully, little Hinata provides a distraction, having woken from her sleep and gone about testing the strength of her tiny lungs.

The noise jolts Hinatsu from her sleep, blurry white eyes darting every which way before she settles her gaze upon her crying twin. For a moment she just stares at the pudgy little face mere inches from her own, before she too begins to scream and cry. Feeding time. With their mother heavily sedated, still recovering from the caesarean, it is up to them.

"Would you care for a hand, brother?"

"If you please."

Hizashi gently, ever so gently, plucks little Hinatsu from beneath the blanket, coating his hand with soothing chakra so as not to disturb the still tender wound upon her back. It is closed now, thanks to medical ninjutsu, but the medic had been unable to fully heal it. Too much foreign chakra into a baby's system would end messily.

Hiashi passes him a bottle of milk, warmed through ample application of chakra, and Hizashi guides it to the newborn's mouth.

For a while, the only sound is that of the babies suckling from the plastic teats. Until Hiashi breaks the silence.

"The elders have decided it would be in the clan's best interest to wait. When the two of them graduate the academy, they will have them fight. Whoever wins will be instated as the heir."

How incredibly cruel, pitting the two girls against one another from birth, each faced with a substantial loss through the others actions. Hizashi cannot picture it, to have a chance to be free, but to have to damn the other sibling.

Hiashi obviously feels the same way, for there is guilt and sorrow gleaming in his eyes, eyes that lower to stare down at the little babe feeding in his arms.

So focused upon Hinata's tiny face, the two miss the way young Hinatsu's brow furrows, as if concentrating especially hard as her gums work the teat. It is for but a second though, the expression slipping from her face and leaving nothing but pure innocence in its stead.

* * *

 **So, I wrote this idea ages ago, it's about three years old, and I only ever wrote three chapters. But, I read it back through, and while the writing was terrible, I still really like the idea. Hence, a second attempt at writing it and hoping for the best. Really, I can't recall any fics with the SI ending up a conjoined twin with a character, and such a thing would really upset the Hyuga Clan and their whole inheritance thing. Well, here we are.**

 _ **(Someday I'll stop posting new fics. But today is not that day. It doesn't mean I'm stopping work on other fics though)**_

 **Tsume  
xxx**


End file.
